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K. S. 4Amt A45qGCupVETERAN: GEORGE A. TOLLESONHIGHEST RANK/GRADE: STAFF SERGEANTINTERVIEWED BY: BRENT CARLISLEAt the age of 19, George Tolleson left Lodi, Texas, for basic training at Wichita Falls after being drafted by theArmy. George was transferred to the Air Corps after completing his basic training and flew to Harlingen inSouth Texas for gunner training, then to March Field at Riverside, California for overseas training. At MaytherField in Sacramento, California, the crew was put together for a brand new B-24 heavy bomber. The pilot was theonly other person from Texas and the oldest crewmember at age 24. He had already been a trainer for fighterpilots. The crew began training at night in California. During one training exercise, George noticed an enginewas on fire due to pilot error. The pilot adjusted the fuel mixture and the fire dispersed. George felt that this wasthe best training he received. He was then assigned to be a nose gunner, meaning he was in charge of guardingthe nose of the plane with two .50 caliber rifles.The training was completed and the bomb bays were filled half with guns and ammunition and half with beerand whiskey. From Sacramento they flew to Honolulu, which was the last paved airstrip the crew would see for25 months. Canton Island was their next destination. The island was so small that the runway went the full lengthof the island. It took three passes before they made a successful landing. They refueled and left for the island ofTarawa. Here they were loaded with bombs, given coordinates, and aerial photographs of their destination. NewGuinea was their target--a jungle area with a bridge target in the middle of it. There were rumors that "headhunters" were in the target area, and they were told to be prepared in case they crashed.New Guinea was the place of his most memorable moment of the war. There were no flight laws overseas,so when a pilot flew in, stunts were expected. A P-38 Lightning came in doing some of the most impressive aerialacrobatics he had seen. When he pulled up next to George's plane, they noticed the word "Tex" on the side of hisplane. Tex crawled out of his fighter wearing boots, cowboy hat, and to top it off, two pearl handled .45 pistolsin side holsters.After completing their campaign in New Guinea and Las Negroes, they flew to the Samoan naval base in thePhilippines. They consistently bombed the oilfields of Borneo and Balik Papan (sic) that was heavily fortified.Normally 25-100 bombers flew each mission. Here they faced the "ak-ak" guns of the opposition, and at least onebomber was lost on every mission. They flew every other day and sometimes at night. Occasionally, they wouldfool the "ak-ak" guns by using foil to confuse the opposition's radar. They flew several missions to Borneo andFormosa (Taiwan). These took 15-17 hours round trip. Rubber tanks were used in two of the four bomb bays forthe extended trips.George flew a mission to Formosa the day after Hiroshima was bombed. They dropped no bombs, but tookpictures and were instructed to neutralize the ground troop movement. They flew three more missions beforeJapan surrendered.At the end of the war, George was put on an A-20 twin engine plane that was smaller, faster, and moremaneuverable. He later boarded a ship in Japan, and 15 days later landed in Seattle, then went by train to El Pasowhere he was discharged at the age of 22 with 6 bronze stars and a rank of staff sergeant.

50th Anniversary

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